full transcript

From the Ted Talk by David Kwong: Magic and wonder in the age of AI

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I am both a magician and a "New York Times" crossword puzzle constructor, and I think that all magic tricks are pulezzs. Puzzles designed to fool your brain. I'm also a self-described word nerd, and I was thinking the other day about the word "wonder," and the meaning of the word wonder. What is wonder? Well, I'm not going to bore you with etymology for two reasons. Number one, because being bored by etymology is impossible, because etymology is aizmnag.

(Laughter)

And number two, I looked it up. And according to the online etymological dictionary, the word wonder is uelmtiltay of unkonwn origin, which is pretty pefrcet, right? It's just one more thing for us to wonder about.

Open Cloze


I am both a magician and a "New York Times" crossword puzzle constructor, and I think that all magic tricks are _______. Puzzles designed to fool your brain. I'm also a self-described word nerd, and I was thinking the other day about the word "wonder," and the meaning of the word wonder. What is wonder? Well, I'm not going to bore you with etymology for two reasons. Number one, because being bored by etymology is impossible, because etymology is _______.

(Laughter)

And number two, I looked it up. And according to the online etymological dictionary, the word wonder is __________ of _______ origin, which is pretty _______, right? It's just one more thing for us to wonder about.

Solution


  1. ultimately
  2. puzzles
  3. amazing
  4. perfect
  5. unknown

Original Text


I am both a magician and a "New York Times" crossword puzzle constructor, and I think that all magic tricks are puzzles. Puzzles designed to fool your brain. I'm also a self-described word nerd, and I was thinking the other day about the word "wonder," and the meaning of the word wonder. What is wonder? Well, I'm not going to bore you with etymology for two reasons. Number one, because being bored by etymology is impossible, because etymology is amazing.

(Laughter)

And number two, I looked it up. And according to the online etymological dictionary, the word wonder is ultimately of unknown origin, which is pretty perfect, right? It's just one more thing for us to wonder about.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
light years 3
great pyramid 2
years tall 2
ted talk 2
sea shanty 2
left hand 2
musician born 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
light years tall 2

Important Words


  1. amazing
  2. bore
  3. bored
  4. brain
  5. constructor
  6. crossword
  7. day
  8. designed
  9. dictionary
  10. etymological
  11. etymology
  12. fool
  13. impossible
  14. laughter
  15. looked
  16. magic
  17. magician
  18. meaning
  19. nerd
  20. number
  21. online
  22. origin
  23. perfect
  24. pretty
  25. puzzle
  26. puzzles
  27. reasons
  28. thinking
  29. tricks
  30. ultimately
  31. unknown
  32. word
  33. york